Invented in 2010 by credit card titan American Express to draw more customers to independently-owned stores and restaurants, Small Business Saturday has become an annual event for hundreds of enterprises across San Diego County.

Their strategy isn’t just to seize seasonal sales from big box and online competitors but to spark a yearlong habit of buying locally from retailers who preserve neighborhoods and hire neighbors.

“If you ask me why it caught on, it’s because local businesses build local economies. You have large stores and large corporate entities, but they don’t push local economies,” said Brian Beevers, owner of North Park’s Simply Local, a “hybrid consignment” storefront for area artists and craftsmen.

Last year, more than 95 million customers nationwide shopped at small businesses on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving — an 8 percent increase from 2014, according to the nonprofit National Federation of Independent Businesses.

A third of holiday shopping occurs at small retailers and restaurants and 76 percent of American consumers will visit an independently-owned store to buy Christmas gifts, a 2015 survey by the independent business group found.

Nancee E. Lewis/Nancee Lewis Photography

Rachel Webb, left, and Shelby Peters started their holiday shopping at Simply Local, as they and other shoppers filled boutique stores in North Park on Small Business Saturday.

Rachel Webb, left, and Shelby Peters started their holiday shopping at Simply Local, as they and other shoppers filled boutique stores in North Park on Small Business Saturday. (Nancee E. Lewis/Nancee Lewis Photography)

Beevers predicted that Small Business Saturday will generate more sales for Simply Local than a typical three-day weekend during the bustling Christmas season.

“It’s my favorite day of the year,” Beevers said.

Angela Landsberg, executive director of North Park Main Street, a chamber of commerce for nearly 700 small businesses, said Beevers’ success isn’t unusual. She pointed to a recent economic study for the city that found tax revenues generated by North Park’s small business corridor skyrocketed 41 percent over the past decade.

“Citywide, tax revenue went down 4 percent,” said Landsberg.

From a stand pitched along University Avenue, Landsberg’s organization handed out nearly 300 free canvas shopping bags every hour throughout the morning.

Designed by Manhattan handbag icon Rebecca Minkoff, the polka-dotted totes peppered a business corridor already decked with American Express bunting — blue and white Small Business Saturday balloons and ribbons pinned to storefront doors and tied to doorknobs and lampposts.

“I shop here because North Park is where you go in San Diego to buy specialty items, for unique gifts,” said Nguyen, owner of the North Park cocktail tavern Bar Pink.

But if you want culture to go with your tchotchkes, come to Mission Hills, said Rebecca Farrant, an antiques dealer and martial arts instructor who discovered an abandoned ballroom dance studio two stories above Washington Street and turned it into a gallery, yoga salon and community center.

To bring La Vie Dance & Culture back to life, she restored the white oak floors, lined the walls with rare Amazonian feathered head dresses and began renting space to artists and dance instructors.

To her, Small Business Saturday is a chance to thank the merchants, yoga teachers and dance troupes who made her studio a hit.